Von Miller hasn’t shied away from helping his team pursue a guy that might be the difference between the playoffs and postseason on the couch for the Broncos.

As general manager John Elway looks to revamp the roster, and upgrade at the quarterback position especially, the top name on the Broncos’ list is a quarterback Miller has praised often: Kirk Cousins. Tuesday, as a guest on ESPN’s First Take, Miller continued to heap on the praise of Cousins.

“He’s just that type of player,” Miller said. “He not only would be a difference-maker to my team, but any team he goes to in the National Football League. It’s an instant upgrade, leadership, he can throw and make all the passes on the field. So, yeah, when you get a guy like that, you’re automatically in Super Bowl contention.”

Acquiring Cousins could come at a steep cost when the Broncos don’t have a ton of cap space and already have the largest non-quarterback contract on their books with Miller’s $114.5 million deal.

“I think the decisions that John has made have put us in championship position,” Miller said. “You can’t go out there and just spend all types of money every year. John has been great with that. Our front office has been great with that. Me and Mr. Elway, we’re tied at the hip, whatever decisions that he makes, whatever direction he takes the organization, I’m right there with him.”

During the NFL combine last week, Elway laid out his vision for the team and his latest roster redo. He said he would scour the free-agent market for help at quarterback; said his two star receivers, Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, are in the plans to return; said defensive end Derek Wolfe would be back, too; said he hoped to keep linebacker Todd Davis and added that he hoped Paxton Lynch would still blossom into a reliable NFL quarterback.

Elway also said, however, that adding a high-priced quarterback alone wouldn’t solve the Broncos’ problems.

“First of all, I don’t think our guys played to their abilities on the defensive side,” he said. “Offensively, I think that we got better, but I don’t know that it was a good fit for us. I don’t want to point fingers at anybody, but we had a bad fit there. So we tried to correct it and it was a little bit too late. So this year we’ll go into this offseason with one plan and stay with that plan and it’s a system that’s going to fit especially the quarterbacks a little bit better.”

Miller concurred Tuesday, saying “whenever you go 5-11, you have a lot of problems” and that “I can start with myself.”

Miller recorded a team-high 10 sacks last season, down from 13.5 the year prior when he was one vote shy of winning the defensive player of the year award. But often overlooked were the double-teams and chips he faced regularly from opposing offenses, and his knack of single-handedly altering a team’s game plan.

Miller’s ability was a common talking point among prospects at the combine, many of whom cited Miller as an idol and inspiration.

Shaquem Griffin, a one-handed linebacker out of Central Florida who impressed with a 4.38-second 40-yard dash and 20 reps on the bench press, has made his admiration of Miller well known. The feelings are apparently mutual, as Miller congratulated Griffin over the weekend after his combine showing, and Tuesday claimed Griffin is a must-have for NFL teams.

“You want to take a guy like that immediately. I would love to play with a guy like that,” Miller said. “He’s a great foundational player to have on your team. To win championships, you have to have players like that. It’s not always about a quarterback or star receivers or star defensive players. You have to have guys like Shaq that can build the foundation, to build the attitude on special teams, defense that are making all the plays. You have to have guys like that.”

And not just for inspiration or because he offers a feel-good story. The kid can play.

“You just got to watch film. The film, it doesn’t lie,” Miller said. “Whenever I saw Shaq at the Senior Bowl, it doesn’t look like he has one hand. Whenever I saw him … in his bowl game, it doesn’t look like he has one hand. He’s playing the game how it should be played. I think you have to take it how it comes. He’s playing the game at a high level right now, and if he’s doing it in college, he’ll continue to do it at the National Football League.”

Nicki Jhabvala is the lead Broncos and NFL beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving at The Post in 2014, she spent nearly two years as a senior staff editor at The New York Times and five years at Sports Illustrated.